blood, and the rippling of the late crystal water rolled over the edges of the tank in crimson waves. The two-edged sword of Ali, guided by an invisible hand, and flashing fire at every blow, commenced the dreadful execution: the tremendous voice still roared its fearful denunciations, whilst some irresistible power restrained the efforts of Jouad to regain his beloved jewel, which floated before him on the purple tide. The struggle at length became more than imaginary, and he awoke as the last long note from the bathman's horn died away in the silence of early morn. Hastily thrusting one hand into his bosom to ascertain the safety of his jewel, and seizing with the other the basin of water that stood by his bedside, he gulped down a few mouthfuls, and once more endeavoured to regain his tranquillity, and recompose his nerves, still a little shaken by the potations of last night, and the fearful recollection of Ali's flaming sword. Scarcely had he turned his thoughts from the dreams of the past night, to the profits of the coming day, when the deep full tones of the muzzim from the next mosque were heard solemnly chaunting, "There is but one God, and Mahomet is his prophet."""Tis false," pettishly growled Jouad, "false as the heart that imagined or the tongue that utters it:" and he angrily pulled the thick quilted coverlet over his ears, to avoid hearing the conclusion and repetition of the odious

sentence.

He lay for some time in that happy state, between sleep and waking, confusedly turning over in his mind medical herbs, old iron crooks and stirrups, the working of his wine jars, ferusas or Turquoise stones, a goat-skin pair of bellows, and a packet of emeralds, all bought cheap, and each, in his dozing speculations, returning ample profit according to its value. From these pleasing reveries he was roused by the voice of Anna, who rushed hastily into the room, exclaiming as she hasped the door, "God of my fathers! sleepest thou when the hyena growls without, and the accursed boar whets his tusk to gore thee? Up, man! Up, for know that the Ferashes of Mirza Mahmoud, are even now in the winevault of Arratoon; and where will

their next visit be?" It required no further explanation to dissipate the gentle visions of Jouad, and cause him to leap from his bed. "Blessings on thee, Anna, for thy timely notice; but despised among women be the mothers of them, that cause thee to bring such evil tidings," he uttered as he tightened his girdle, and rushed into the inner chamber, followed by Anna. This chamber, which served as a kitchen, storehouse, and retirement for Anna when strangers occupied the outward room, they hastily traversed, Jouad snatching up a few parceis enveloped in skins, whilst Anna, having replaced the bottles and glasses in the Russian box, followed her husband with it down some irregular steps into the cellar. In a few seconds she returned, lighted a lamp, and rapidly re-descended the steps, bearing with her the abovementioned damjan, and one or two other little articles of luxury unfit for the inspection which she expected shortly to commence. In the cellar, she found Jouad dragging with all his force a buffalo skin full of wine towards the rugged entrance of a still further descent, where three other similar skins were already deposited. "Haste, haste, Anna," he cried, disappearing into the dark abyss with his burthen; "the lamp!" he continued, almost breathless with exertion, "spare not thy strength good Anna; it is well; I have it:" as the second buffalo, assisted by the powerful efforts of Anna, followed its companion. All the four skins of wine, together with the two goat-skins of brandy, nearly the whole stock of the house, were thus safely deposited below, together with the damjan, the Russian box, and a few silver saucers for coffee cups. Jouad, first handing up the lamp, nimbly leaped forth, and then pushing the unwieldy trap door of boards, covered with cemented marl, over the aperture, completely concealed the entrance of this secret repository. They had only just concluded their operations by raking with their hands the loose earth of the cellar floor into the crevice surrounding the trap door, and had smoothed the whole to a uniform surface, when voices were heard in the court-yard without. In an instant, Jouad was in the outward room adjusting a buckle to the belt of an old

musket which lay by the window, where a hole torn in the oiled paper permitted observation of what passed without. Anna extinguished her lamp, and was apparently busied in heating the stones for baking her dough, which, already neglected beyond its time, lay heaving and swelling before the fire in an earthern pan. A slight jingle, as the door chain unhooked and fell, and the salutation from Jouad of "Ye are welcome!" announced to her the inauspicious arrival of her unbidden guests. The murmuring sounds of indistinct voices succeeded, gradually increasing in force till Jouad was heard loudly declaring his innocence of drunkenness, his ignorance where to find, and his own utter inability to produce, a single goatskin of wine. All this, asserted with the utmost vehemence of declamation, and supported by frequent appeals to the head of his father and the beard of the king, in confirmation of his veracity, failed to convince the Ferash Bashee, who, for reasons of his own, wished to confer a few minutes in private with Jouad apart from his companions; he, therefore, insisted upon searching the house, but in consideration of his friendship for the master of it, he ordered Jouad to precede him alone into the inner room, and his attendants to remain at the door. Jouad raised the purdah and they entered alone.

A few broad hints not producing any offer on the part of Jouad, the Ferash Bashee proceeded without more circumlocution to explain his purpose. His master, the Governor, was in great necessity for money, having lost considerable sums lately at gaming, and now was causing all the Christian and Jewish houses to be visited in order to suppress drunkenness and the selling of wine to Mussulmans. Some from fear, some from conscious guilt, and some to purchase favour, presented the expected peace-offering, and imprudently betrayed an abundance most alluring to the future rapacity of their oppressors. The fifteen tomaun present at first demanded had dwindled down to five, but Jouad remained inexorable, and obstinately pleaded poverty, which all around seemed sufficiently to attest. The Ferash, finding that no harvest could be

reaped for his master, turned his attention towards his own small gleanings with as little success. Nothing more could be obtained from Jouad than the repetition of inability, the numerous extortions which he had lately suffered, and the loss of Ala Bash, his longest eared mule, with an entire load of wine, in his last journey-lamenting almost with tears the loss of the poor creature ;-and then, for confirmation of his assertions, appealing to Anna, who, on the entrance of the Ferash Bashee, had crouched down in a corner of the room, with her face to the wall, and now, closely concealed in her veil, might have been mistaken for an inanimate bundle, had not an impatient start, or angry snarl, of disapprobation from time to time escaped her. Delighted that the restraint was now removed from her lips by the sanction of her husband, she broke forth in absolute despair for her dear Ala Bash, and bewailed his untimely end with such unfeigned sorrow, that the Ferash, although unwilling to believe, was at last convinced of the reality of the accident. The truth is, that the wine had been sold in the tents of a Courdish Chief, and Ala Bash, the mule, purchased at an exorbitant price by an Armenian merchant, who had had the misfortune to lose one of his own in descending a difficult pass in the mountains. Finding that nothing could be gained by expostulation, the Ferash commanded Jouad to light the lamp and show the way to the cellar; in doing which, he contrived to drop a small purse, containing the Courde's jewel and several gold coins, into the high narrow water jar standing in the corner. It was well that he took this precaution, for on returning to the outward room, after a fruitless search in the cellar, Jouad's person underwent so minute a scrutiny, that a few pieces of silver and copper were detected, and, for want of richer plunder, detained by his visitors. Each then swallowed a large cup of execrable wine, and quitted the house, loudly exhorting him to sobriety, and denouncing the wrath of the king's son on his head (loud enough to be heard by the neighbourhood) if he permitted a Mussulman to taste of the forbidden liquor under his roof. "Deceiving, deceived slaves!" muttered Jouad as he

fished up his jewel out of the water jar; then throwing on his walking coat, or cloak, and thrusting his pencase into his girdle, he set out on his way to the bazaar.

The winter had commenced: the sun no longer glowed in a cloudless sky, or scorched the earth with his fiery rays. The red hills were already covered with snow, and large flakes were now fast falling in the town; the ministers and mirzas going to the Defta Khonar hastened their horses, and their attendants half running, half walking, dropped a hasty salutation to their friends. A party of peasants buying hot beet root, at the door of a cook's shop, pointed to the wretchedly lean carcases of sheep which hung before a butcher's at a little distance, and pronounced the frost to have been some time severe in the mountains, the sheep having been already killed to prevent their dying by starvation. The pomegranate and the withering kishmish occupied the place of the autumn fruits; here and there a little pan of charcoal burned upon the board, where sat the tailor, or the public writer; a few Courdes with their long spears in their hands, and completely armed, strolled indolently along, nor seemed now impatient of a town. Snow and icicles whitened the caps and stiffened the beards of travellers arriving from the country. Every thing announced the first winter storm, as Jouad pulled down the few shattered planks from before the aperture of his little shop, and disclosed its miserable interior; indeed, it bore more the appearance of a receptacle for the refuse and sweepings of other shops, than of actually laying claim to the title of one itself. Jouad set about displaying to the best advantage his curious stores, the whole value of which might amount to a very few rupees. This collection of non-descripts being at last arranged to his satisfaction, he sat down to wait for customers, sometimes smoking his own pipe, or accepting a whiff or two from a neighbour'sarghila; sometimes watching a decoction of dried herbs, which he asserted to be infallible for healing bruises and green wounds, patching holes, darning rents, polishing old rusty swords and daggers: in short, endeavouring to render a

gain useful, or at least saleable, that which had long been thrown aside as useless and worthless, occupied the remainder of his time. An unusual bustle at length induced him to put his head forward to learn the cause. Fools part with their money rather than suffer a little vexation or pain, he thought to himself; but he speedily withdrew from public observation, on perceiving the Ferashes of the Kaimakaum, who haughtily received some pieces of silver which a Greek humbly offered to them. His retreat was too late, for immediately one of the satellites advanced towards him, exclaiming: "The snow lies on the roof of the Kaimakaum; where is thy shovel, and wherefore loiterest thou here when thou mayest serve my Lord?" This was accompanied by so fearful a flourish of the djereed which he carried in his hand, that Jouad's head most probably would have suffered, had he not adroitly bent it to the earth, and presented a more enduring part to the shock. He was quit for the fear; the djereed was again poised on the ground, whilst a few indistinct words, and a knowing grin from its bearer explained, that the master's service might be compromised for a small gratification to the servant. This Jouad perfectly understood, but firm to his principle of not parting with money, he only whined out that he hoped some recompense would be made him for the loss of his time; or at least that he might be permitted to shut up his shop, and secure his property, before he had the honour of mounting on the roof of my Lord the Kaimakaum. An angry sneering laugh was his only answer; another imposing flourish of the djereed enforced immediate obedience, and indicated the direction in which he had to move. He resignedly stepped forth into the covered way of the bazaar, and joined three or four of his brethren already assembled there. They all proceeded to the house of the Kaimakaum, and commenced their work of throwing the snow from the flat mud-terraced roof. They had only just cleared the yard of the snow which they had previously thrown there, when another party of Ferashes laid hands on them, and led them to perform the same operation on the house and

yard of the Topchee Bashee. They then had the good fortune to escape, and returned home.

Jouad returned to his den, and found all safe as he had left it; indeed he was always careful to leave nothing worth losing. As he sat refreshing himself after his fatigue with a little youourt (curdled milk) and bread, he saw, passing one of the entrances of the bazaar, a number of women on horseback, conducted by an old man on foot. From their number and the whiteness of their veils he supposed them the women of some man of rank, and his wrath kindled against them on the bare supposition.

"Accursed race," he grumbled, as he sought the little bottle of brandy, which he usually kept concealed in the stuffing of an old ass saddle; "did heaven but give you your merited reward, your bones would be ground to powder, fine as the flour from between the mill-stones." After this toast to their welfare, he crouched down in a corner, as if seeking something, and gulped a reviving draught from his bottle; then cautiously looking round, to be sure that he was not observed, he replaced his comforter in the old saddle, and began striking a light for his pipe. He was interrupted in this pleasing occupation by a violent screaming and commotion, every one running towards the gate by which the women on horseback had passed. "Were I sure that they had broken their limbs, or fractured their sculls, I might be tempted to move and enjoy the sight;" he continued; "but rest is now acceptable;" and he drew the first comfortable whiff from his pipe, replacing the flint and steel in the little bag with the touch-wood. This was not to be a day of rest for Jouad, his name resounded on all sides. "Haste, Jouad, good Jouad," sobbed the old guide of the ladies, panting in breathless speed, "Kind Jouad, prince of learned physicians, come to the lady Nabottee, the beloved wife of Asker Khan; she has fallen from her horse on one of the black stones, and much I fear that she is killed." "Then there is no need of a physician," quietly observed Jouad, pour ing out a volume of balmy smoke, and unwilling to interfere in such a critical case. "O! Jouad, friend Jouad," cried the half distracted old

man, "come, O! come, I will reward thee, my brindled greyhound is thine." No reply.-"My horse's silver nose chain that thou lovest, I will give thee, if thou wilt come; holy Allah, my head answers for her safety." Then thou wilt lose it if she is killed as thou sayest;" Jouad maliciously answered; " and the loss will not be great, friend Ishmael, for thou art old, and worth little, save carrying the pitcher and bath clothes of the women to the bath on a Thursday." A most powerful pull by the ear from Sali Beg silenced Jouad, and sent him on his way to the house of Asker Khan, where the wounded lady had already arrived. Upon enquiry, he found that her hip was dislocated, and he gave directions to take off her veil and part of her garments, in order to attempt setting it immediately. He was advancing towards her, when the voice of Asker Khan himself, half choaked with fear and rage, thundered out as he entered the chamber, "Wretch, slave, dog, dare but defile the hem of her robe by thy impure touch, and I will cleave thy head in two!" "How would my Lord the Khan that I set a bone, without touching the patient?" demanded Jouad. "I care not, I know not," screamed the infuriated Khan, stamping and gnashing his teeth, "cured she shall be or thou diest: were she of thy own accursed tribe she would now be well, I believe." "I trust most submissively," Jouad replied, "that I can cure the daughter of Jaffir Khan, but I must touch her.” "Then thy head rolls on the carpet before thee, dog; commence thy work quick, ere two hours she is well, or thou art not alive to mock her sufferings." " God of Abraham!" groaned Jouad, pacing the chamber in an agony of despair, "when wilt thou cease to chastise thy people? where seek help if thou desertest me! are my hours then numbered? Hah! By the tombs of my ancestors I will attempt it! I can but die.-- Instantly lead me a buffalo before the window; one of them that now feed on clover in the outer court." Strange as the order appeared, it was immediately obeyed. Jouad then directed the attending women to place their mistress astride on the back of the animal, and tie her feet with a silken shawl together under its belly; he